This invention relates, in general, to electronic components and, more particularly, to apparatuses for inspecting electronic components that have an emissive display.
A new generation of electronic components combines an integrated circuit with an emissive display. These electronic components are used in a variety of applications such as wireless communication devices. For example, an emissive display can be used on a paging device to display information sent to the person holding the paging device. The emissive display typically consists of a sequence of individual pixels that are arranged in an array. Each pixel has a varying intensity and represents a dot in the emissive display. Preferably, each pixel can be generated by a light emitting diode (LED) or similar device.
One problem with the fabrication of electronic components that have emissive displays arises in the final testing process. Before the electronic component is sent to a customer, the electronic component must be tested to verify that each pixel in the emissive display is operating properly. This is generally done by placing the electronic component under a camera that has a resolution, which is equal to or greater than the resolution of the emissive display. A sequence of known test patterns is then generated in the emissive display. The patterns of the emissive display are captured by the camera and analyzed to determine if the captured image of the emissive display matches the known pattern.
As technology evolves, the density of pixels in emissive displays generally increases. To accurately capture an image generated by an emissive display, the resolution of the camera must also be improved. This is typically done by upgrading the camera in the testing apparatus with a more expensive camera that has the required resolution.
Hence, a need exists to provide an inspection system that can be used on emissive displays that have varying resolutions. It would be advantageous if the inspection system did not require replacement of a camera as the resolution of the emissive displays varies and could be used to test emissive displays that are of different sizes or configurations.